Fibre broadband roll-out will benefit 27,000 Galway homes

Almost 27,000 Galway homes and businesses are in line for a state-of-the-art fibre broadband service that, when installed, will provide them with a service that is better and faster than New York’s.

They are to benefit from a plan approved by Cabinet this week which will see 300,000 premises in rural areas across the country connected to fibre broadband over the next 90 weeks.

The 27,000 homes and businesses included in the agreement in Galway cover areas of Barna, Furbo, An Spideal, An Cheathru Rua, Ros a’ Mhil, Beal a’ Daingin, Tuairin, Roundstone, Ballyconneely, Clifden, Cleggan and Maam.

They also include areas around Oughterard, Moycullen, Roscahill, Carrowmoreknock, Tullykyne and Corcullen, and – on the other side of the Corrib – Annaghdown and Corrandulla, on into Claregalway, Turloughmore, Oranmore, Craughwell, Clarinbridge, Athenry, Loughrea and Ballinasloe.

The news was confirmed by Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment Denis Naughten in Ballinasloe on Tuesday, as he also revealed that the East Galway town was to receive its own high-speed connectivity under the next phase of the enet fibredirect initiative.

Ballinasloe is one of ten towns selected for this roll-out, a move that will mirror the success of a similar project in Loughrea through delivery of one Gigabit capacity which enabled local businesses to take full advantage of digital markets and exploit online opportunities.

But it was the overall fibre roll-out that will see a huge swathe of the country – and county – benefit from fibre to the home (FTTH) technology which can typically support speeds of up to 1Gbps.

To put it into context, according to the Minister, householders would – if they so desired – be able to watch 200 HD shows on Netflix at the same time without stalling or buffering.

“These people will quite simply have better broadband than they have in New York,” the Minister told the Connacht Tribune this week.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.